Bringing it all Together at Greenville Middle School Stand Up and Stand Out! We’re Worth It!

Bringing it all Together at Greenville Middle School Stand Up and Stand Out! We’re Worth It!

As the
first nine weeks draws to a close, many different facets at Greenville Middle
School are coming together to prepare a positive environment that recognizes
and encourages student positive decisions.Students at Greenville Middle School ‘Stand Up and Stand Out because It’s Worth It!’(phrase coined by Principal Chris Mortensen).The school wide initiatives have been stream lined to ‘bring it all together’ through assemblies, guest speakers, school wide positive behavior acknowledgements systems, activities, and character education.

.5in;line-height:150%'>.5in;line-height:150%'>The first opportunity this year to reinforce positive decision making was a large screen assembly presented by Camfel Productions titled “Worth It!”. Students in grades 3-8 attended the motivational, musically enhanced presentation in September. This provided an opportunity to stress the reasons for making good choices and being motivated for the future. The assembly is, “designed to erase the insecurities and fears students face daily, replacing them with an understanding of their true potential and the desire and motivation to be the best they can be in whatever circumstances they face” (camfelproductions.com)..5in;line-height:150%'>.5in;line-height:150%'>Following the assembly, Greenville Middle School’s Positive Behavior and Intervention Support Team gave the acknowledgement system a face lift. What has been formally known as B.U.G. Awards (Being Unusually Good) is now called WAVE Awards. Staff will use this as an immediate acknowledgement of students’ positive decisions and connections made to the weekly social emotional learning curriculum. A student is given a WAVE Award slip to trade for an immediate prize when a staff member is able to recognize positive actions. .5in;line-height:150%'>To support academic intervention as well as social emotional learning opportunities, the Middle School schedule has been adjusted to provide a 30-minute period at the end of the school day. Once a week, the entire school has a mindset lesson. The 7 Mindsets curriculum solidifies the positive decision focus at Greenville Middle School by focusing on a different Mindset each month. For example, the month of September's mindset was ‘Everything is Possible’. Students and staff explored dreaming big and making goals for those dreams to happen. Through the 7 Mindsets Academy, the students experience a social emotional learning curriculum that helps them develop, “a) a firm belief in their potential, b) an optimistic vision for the future, and c) a strong sense of personal authenticity, perform better academically and forge more substantial relationships in life” (7MindsetsAcademy.com)..5in;line-height:150%'>.5in;line-height:150%'>Aligned with the ability to make good decisions is the need to empower the students of Greenville Middle School to Stand Up and Stand Out against drug use. In conjunction with Greenville Elementary School and St Mary’s Catholic School, Greenville Middle School has been awarded two separate grants from the Coalition for a Healthy Darke County. One grant will support the purchase of a t-shirt for each student that will be worn for a variety of school wide walks, assemblies, and activities to support good decision making and standing up and out against drug use! The second grant will be used to bring motivational speaker Logan Weber to passionately encourage the participants to bring it all together on a personal level (http://www.weberassociates.com/Logan_Weber_Bio.aspx)..5in;line-height:150%'>.5in;line-height:150%'>Through
all of the initiatives at Greenville Middle School, there are many advantages
to the changes being made. The best way to help our students make concerted and
sustained changes in their attitudes and behavior is to ground their beliefs
and activities together in a variety of ways.
At Greenville Middle School, the students and staff are bringing it all
together to ensure that good decisions and the ability to Stand Up and Stand
Out is foundational in all that is done because we are Worth It!